July 1998

Opium poppies are farmed in the remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This drug—used to make heroin—is sold Tajikistan-Afghanistan border and taken from there through Russia to Europe and the United States. Since January, 220 pounds of heroin have been seized and 20 smugglers killed by Russian police patrolling the border. Pakistan has begun a government-initiated campaign against drugs: most of the poppies were destroyed this year, and drug production is down 95%. The world’s two largest producers of opium are Afghanistan (est. 1,230 metric tons p.a., or 90% of southwest Asian production) and Burma (est. 2,560 metric tons p.a., [...]